To best address a student's needs in reading accuracy, what focus should instruction prioritize based on their reading performance?

Prioritizing instruction on improving reading accuracy by attending to all parts of a word is essential for addressing a student's reading performance directly. Reading accuracy is fundamentally about the ability to recognize words correctly. Focusing on all parts of a word—such as phonemic awareness, phonics, and the recognition of morphemes—helps students decode and pronounce words accurately. This foundational skill is crucial not only for accurate reading but also for preventing future reading difficulties.

Fostering a deep understanding of how words are constructed enhances the student's ability to decode unfamiliar words and reinforces their reading skills overall. This approach directly targets their need for accuracy before fluency or comprehension can effectively develop. If students cannot read words accurately, their fluency will be adversely affected, leading to challenges in overall understanding of the text, which would make focusing on comprehension strategies or independent reading skills less effective. Therefore, honing in on word structure provides the essential building blocks for students to develop their reading capabilities.